While some touchscreens seem to react when you hover your finger near it, Mitsubishi has turned this concept into something tangible with their latest tech – 3D motion tracking.

This 3D motion tracking is done with no extra cameras or sensors, and with an extremely high level of precision. So high, that it can measure your finger distance in increments of .08mm, up to a distance of 20mm, and does this action quickly enough that it can correctly guess the approach speed. It’s reported that this will most likely find its home in mobile devices, adding an extra level of interaction.

No word yet on when this will become available on a consumer level, but it has been mentioned that they’ll first use it in their own products (duh).

Microsoft probably isn't the first company to come to mind when you think of cooling products, but the mega-software maker is looking to change that with the announcement of its new Notebook Cooling Base.

The notebook stand sports a slim design measuring just 1.16-inches thick and comes with a cable management clip to store the cable when not in use. The cooler is USB powered and includes a built-in fan for active cooling duties. Microsoft says the base is "contoured to rest on the both desks and users' laps, providing a comfortable typing angle."

The Notebook Cooling Base will be available starting in July in both white and black, with an MSRP of $30.

The new notebook series also comes equipped with MSI's ECO Engine Power Management, which lets users switch between 5 different modes -- gaming, movie, presentation, office, and turbo battery -- by tapping the touch sensor.

Netbooks have become so wildly popular that we could hardly blame Intel if it decided to focus solely on its Atom processors. Rest assured that's not the case. According to UK news and rumor site Channel Register, Intel will soon release mobile Penryn-based processors clocked at 3GHz and higher.

The faster processors will be part of Intel's Montevina Plus platform, which will focus more heavily on HD capabilities. Quoting Intel''s mobile marketing director Karen Regis, Channel Register reports the rollout also means Intel will expand its ultra low voltage (ULV) technology into mainstream markets. These include systems just above the netbook sector typically running between $600 and $1,000, Regis said.

Look for Montevina Plus to show up in the second quarter of this year.

MSI has unveiled a new "Classic Series" of laptops at CeBIT, which the company says will be value oriented. Among the new models are the CX700, CX600, and CR400.

The CX700, CX600, and CR400 will ship with 17.3-inch, 16-inch, and 14-inch widescreen LCD displays respectively, utilizing the 16:9 aspect ratio and MSI's Vivid Image Technology. Pushing pixels on the two larger models will be ATI's Mobility Radeon HD 4330 with 512MB of video RAM, with the CR400 sporting Nvidia's GeForce 8200MG.

All three models will come spec'd with a Super Multi DVD burner, 4-in-1 card reader, and 1.3MB webcam. As for the rest of the hardware, final specs remain a mystery, but it's a safe bet you won't find anything earth shattering if this is to be a value-oriented line-up.

A-DATA this week launced its 512GB XPG 2.5-inch solid state drive (SSD), which it claims is the highest capacity SSD to date. The new drive will be pitched to both laptop and desktop users.

Balancing capacity with performance, A-DATA says its 512GB XPG reads data at up to 230MB/s and writes up to 160MB/s. By comparison, Intel's highly touted X-25M boasts read and write speeds of up to 250MB/s and 70MB/s, respectively, giving A-DATA's a sizable paper-spec advantage in write speeds and a slight disadvantage in read bandwidth.

The new drive comes enclosed in a "dashing, durable, lightweight aluminum casing" and boasts a shock resistance rating of 1500G/0.5ms. In other words, it could probably survive an accidental drop or three, even if the rest of your laptop doesn't.

Another day means another netbook on the horizon, this one from former memory-maker-gone-everything-maker OCZ. And another netbook means another Atom processor on the spec sheet, but OCZ adds a twist.

OCZ says its new Neutrino netbook will part of its DIY program, meaning power users can select from a list of validated components (in this case, probably RAM, HDD or SSD, and WiFi) and install it themselves. OCZ's DIY line so far includes a handful of 15-inch and 17-inch gaming notebooks, but this will be the first time that we know of where end-users can assemble their own netbook.

For those who'd rather not dink around inside such tight quarters, OCZ also plans to offer a pre-configured Neutrino with a 10.1-inch 1024 x 600 LCD display. Other specs include an Intel Atom 1.6GHz CPU, 945GSE chipset, up to 2GB of RAM, optional 250GB OCZ SSD, two USB 2.0 ports, WiFi, 13.MP webcam, and either Ubuntu or Windows XP.

Look for the new models to start shipping in 2-3 months and "priced competitively."

With the introduction of four new specialized Atom processors (as well as two new system controllers to accompany them) Intel is looking to put their wildly popular Atom processor into more platforms. Notably, they’re making a push for internet-pones and in-car devices.

The processors, which are made from the same 45nm manufacturing process as their siblings, aren’t too different from the others that already exist. The processors, which will clock between 1.1GHz and 1.6GHz will consume very little power, and fit perfectly into a whole myriad of industrial options.

So who knows, perhaps in the coming years not only your computer, but your car might have Intel inside.

What is it lately with AT&T and inflated WiFi charges? Last week the ISP handed a Chicago Bears fan a $28,000 internet bill after his laptop's wireless card picked up an errant signal while he watched a football game on his notebook, and now the company has billed an Oklahoma woman $5,077 for data charges on her DataConnect plan.

Oklahoma resident Billie Parks is suing both AT&T and RadioShack, alleging the two companies co-conspired to offer a netbook and data bundle intentionally designed to mislead customers into racking up thousands of dollars per month in service charges. Parks purchased her netbook from RadioShack in December of 2008 for just $100, a price which required a two-year commitment with AT&T's DataConnect plan. On the $60/month plan, customers can get online no matter where they're at.

However, Parks maintains that she was never told that Internet data usage over 5GB would result in "astronomical additional charges running into the thousands of dollars." According to Parks, the Customer Service Summary says only that additional charges apply, but makes no mention of what those charges are.

"We're reviewing the suit and don’t have a comment on it at this time," AT&T spokesperson Seth Bloom told ArsTechnica. "But I can tell you that we go to considerable lengths to inform customers of the limits involved in these plans. We display the plan usage limits and overage rates on our collateral, terms and conditions, and on att.com, And customers can check their usage using myWireless Account or by using the usage monitoring capability on the AT&T Communications Manager application."

Does Parks have a fighting chance with her lawsuit? Hit the jump and sound off.

Holy high stakes, Batman, is Psion really seeking $1.2 billion from Intel in defending its claim to the netbook trademark? The answer is yes, and in addition to seeking compensation for all of "Intel's profits resulting from infringement, unfair competition, and unfair trade practices," as Psion alleges, the company also wants to collect punitive damages. Psion is also seeking to pluck the domain name www.netbook.com from Intel's hands.

If you haven't been following, Psion's trademark claim is based on a pair of ARM-based "netBook" and "netBook Pro" computers launced in 1999, which it appears to have stopped selling in 2003. Psion renewed the trademark in 2006, and then last December the company started sending out cease-and-desist notices to various OEMs and other firms over use of the term "netbook." Nobody listened, but it didn't matter, because it appears Psion was simply laying the groundwork for the suit we're seeing today.

Two weeks ago Dell filed a petition with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office asking that it cancel Psion's netbook trademark, for which Intel endorsed. Among the reasons listed is that "Psion has abandoned the 'netbook' mark" and does not currently offer laptops under the Netbook trademark. But Psion says this isn't true and has offered up a table of netBook-based revenue from 1999 through 2009, which as ArsTechnica points out, the numbers "are somewhat suspect." For example, according to Psion's numbers, customers purchased $2 million in accessoris for just $135,000 worth of netBooks.

Predictions on how it will all unfold? Hit the jump and tell us what you think!